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2013.08.01 - Not Your Average Day at the Mall
Wednesday, early afternoon in the Staten Island Mall. It's typical, not terribly busy but not empty either, the majority of the shoppers your average folks from the surrounding neighborhoods. The stores are doing reasonable business, and things seem relatively normal. In the large center courtyard area, where the mall sets up their Christmas display in the winter, there are several long tables and booths set up. Each of the displays proudly carries the logo for a company, and representatives are actively vying for the attention of potential recruits. Most of the businesses present at the job fair are retail establishments from the mall itself, but there are a few outside companies as well. One of those companies is Hammer Industries. Hoping to try and recover some of the lower ranks in the security and administration parts of the company, HI has taken out a booth alongside White House Black Market and Macy's. It's not something that one wouldn't normally expect to see, such a high-profile tech company here, but even with the poor economy it seems to be getting harder and harder to keep low-ranking staff. At the request of the PR department, Justin himself has stopped by the mall on his way back from lunch. He looks harried and impatient, though that isn't completely unusual. There's a small group around the HI table, mostly young men interested in security positions, and Hammer is speaking with them in his usual animated fashion. The sunlight streaming through the skylights flickers as the sky darkens omninously. Nothing seems to happen for a few moment until there's a commotion near one of the exits, then the sound of shattering glass. Loki slides across the floor, on his side, curled up from the impact and sheer force of being sent through the steel doors and into the mall proper. His green surcoat is charred and there's the oppresive stentch of burnt flesh. The Trickster groans audibly as he skids to a stop against the backs of Hammer's pressed pants. "So, like, you guys offer insurance?" one of the young men standing at Hammer's booth asks. "Absolutely, we have a full benefits package. Miss Aberdeen here can give you the complete rundown," Hammer replies, motioning toward the brunette in a sharp skirt suit standing next to him. As Miss Aberdeen takes over the explanation of benefits, Justin slips his hands into his pants pockets and sighs lightly. He's distracted, more so than usual, and can't help but look like he doesn't want to be here. He frowns as he hears someone in the crowd beyond comment that Stark Industries doesn't have to recruit in a mall. Story of his li- The sound of breaking glass draws Justin's, and everyone else's, attention. Movement in the mall's center courtyard seems to slow to a halt as everyone looks toward the sound. Hammer looks back toward the commotion, then forward again to address the brunette next to him. "I think now might be a good time to-" Justin is cut short as something- someone, hits him in the back of the legs. He stumbles forward, catching the table before turning to look down at... Loki? "Oh, Jesus Christ," he mumbles under his breath. Wheezing, the Trickster moves to push himself up, green eyes burning brightly from the pain of.. is he on FIRE? He lifts his gaze toward the doorway, right hand reaching up outstretched, waiting... Now, if the relic would have enough strength to get to him cleanly this time... And to Hell with the mall patrons. There were more important things to deal with. /Oh, no.. Why, why me?/ In the past week Justin has been seriously reconsidering his friendship with the Asgardians. At first it was all about publicity, amazing parties and good liquor. Now, however, he keeps finding himself in these bizarre and life threatening situations. And honestly, it's just not fun anymore. Hammer steps away from Loki quickly, leaving the god between himself and Miss Aberdeen. "Get security. Have them evacuate the place," he calls to her. She nods, hesitates just a second, then turns and takes off. Looking down at the singed and possibly still burning Loki, "W-What the hell's going on man?" "Mulspelheim. Demons. Attacking," Loki hisses without looking up at the mortal. His hand has a blackened soot-covered look to it as he continues to wait. Waiting may be a moot point as a snake made of flames slithers in flanked by four human sized beings made of molten lava stride into the mall. "Demons?"Justin asks. As if to answer his question, the main attraction walks into the mall proper. Before there was just confusion, but now there's screams of panic as people start running. Hammer starts edging backwards, eyes fixed on the creatures. Last time it was frost giants. Now? Fire demons. Someone really must have cursed him. One panicked thought manages to make it though Justin's muddled brain as he scrambles back and hits the railing of the escalator. Looking up, he yells, "Heimdall! Heimdall!" No embarrassment this time around. It takes a few minutes but eventually, the air begins to shimmer. Moments later, a courtyard is seen and Sif in her full armor with her sword at her hip, steps through. She's followed by four guards. The portal is sealed just as the guards launch themselves into the fray with no questions asked. The Goddess, however, takes a moment to take stock of the situation as she draws her sword. It's split which gives her a blade in each hand. "They've started favoring Midgard then..." Those few minutes could spell disaster... There's just no more time to summon Mjolnir from the parking lot outside where it fell out of his hand when the flame serpent tail whipped him through the mall. Loki stands. His eyes lid at the pain and in concentration. Lightning crackles about him and he shoots whitehot bolts of electricity from his fingertips at the snake... which just seems to laugh at him. A frown, and Loki looks up at the skylights... Widows. If he can shatter them, make it rain.. then summon a blizzard... Such things would require Mjolnir. Green eyes turns back to the beasts as he puts himself between Justin Hammer and the demons. "Flee, Mortals," Loki says simply, voice a raspy hiss. Justin looks back down as the monsters draw closer. He covers his face with his arm as the lightning cracks through the mall, then seems to do absolutely no good. Shit, this wasn't going to end well. He starts edging along the escalator, finally rounding the short support wall that holds the lower part of the machine up. Those few moments it takes for the portal to arrive? They feel like hours. Hammer is about ready to yell again when he catches the glimmer, then the shine of armor. /Oh, thank god, thank god,/ he thinks as he peers out from around the support wall. Following Loki's gaze, Sif smirks. "Got it!," is called out. "Move people!," she screams into the crowd in warning. A throwing knife is whipped out and tossed at the skylight. The snake is what gets her attention as soon as she looses the knife. A wink is tossed at Loki before the Goddess flashes out of existances and reappears less than a minute later in the air above the beast. As she's falling, one of the blades is thrown straight down at the snakes head and then the Goddess vanishes again only to appear next to Justin. "Are you alright?" Sif's voice! Loki's eyes widen in fright and turn to the sound. Sif! She's here. Why is she here? To help protect... because in this frame he's just.. not enough! The wink earns a frown in response before the green eyes return to the beast and the four lava maraudors. Sif's blade, impaling the snake's head, would be the perfect rod to catch lightning, but that just won't work on these beasts. And not when it's clear that the snake is just going to keep undulating with the blade in his skull. "We need ice," Loki calls out as he runs for a pair of the humanoids. He'll have to get up in their faces. Which he does, starting to battle them hand to hand, coming away with burnt and blackened knuckles each time. As the goddess races into battle, Justin resumes his edging along the support wall. He gets halfway across it, still looking toward his right and toward the action, when he catches his hand on something sharp. Looking over, he notices a recessed metal case with a glass front. Inside, a bright red fire extinguisher. The CEO pauses, glancing back to his right again just in time to see Sif's sword run it's course through the snake's head. For a moment his spirits lift, then they fall as the snake-beast seems almost unphased. The voice to Justin's left makes him jump, and he even lets off a bit of a yelp. "Sif," he says, sounding out of breath. "Yeah, yeah, fine..." He trails off, looking back down at the extinguisher case. "These things are... Fire, right? Lo- Th- /he/ said we need ice? What about this?" He points at the glass front of the case. Sif's icy colored eyes lift to Loki and she frowns slightly. "Where is...?" She doesn't finish the sentence but nods towards his hip. When Justin speaks, the Goddess blinks and widens her eyes. "Yes! That's perfect. Can you use it? I can gather the others around the mall very quickly. Perhaps trip the sprinkler system as well..." "Out-oof-side! Keep... dropping," Loki is trying to reply, while he seeks to duck and dodge and minimize the parrying. Physical contact hurts! But he's just not as graceful and he's out numbered. The other two maraudors move in and flank him, the fire serpent slithering over, plasma dripping from its fangs. One of the humanoid lava monsters catches Loki in the side of the ribs, staggering the godling into a pilar. "Yeah, I can," Justin replies quickly. Without thinking he uses his left elbow to strike the glass on the case, not even checking for a glass breaker or a handle. No, that would take clear thought, which Hammer doesn't possess at the moment. It takes two strikes to shatter the glass, and ow, that hurts a lot more than the movies make it look like it would. Justin grabs the extinguisher, looking it over. How did you use these things again? Oh, yeah, pull the safety pin, just like a hand grenade. Stepping away from the wall cautiously, Justin edges toward the battle. The humanoid things are far smaller, and mildly less frightening than the snake, so he goes after one of them first. "Hey buddy!" he hollers at the closest one, then lets loose with the extinguisher. Sif frowns slightly. "Let's get it then, shall we? I'll take you to it. Then get Justin his... whatever those are..." She blinks in out and then right next to Loki, reaching out to grab his shoulder. "Are you ready?" She looks over at Justin, offers a faint smile and nods her head. "Keep it up. I'll have more for you in no time!" Loki goes from leaning on the pilar to leaning on Sif. Sweaty, burnt, unhappy. "Just go," orders the Trickster, body already shifting to put himself int he way of another attack from a maraudor just as the snak begins to rear up to snap down at them. The cold CO2 from the extinguisher hits the fire demon square on as it wheels to face the voice. It shrieks in pain, it's lava body solidifying black and looking burned- quite the odd sight to see on a think made /of/ lava. Justin doesn't have a lot of time to ponder this, instead firing off another burst of fire suppressant, this time aimed at the thing's face and head. He's shocked at the seeming effectiveness of the device against the creatures, and the success gives him an unhealthy dose of confidence. The snake rears back and Sif does... well... What Sif always does. Protects the people she loves. "Forgive me." She reaches out and touches Loki's shoulder, teleporting him outside. "Get it and get back in there. THe snake is too large for the mortal things..." And then she's disappeared again. When she next appears, she's standing next to Justin and holding four more of the extinguishers. "I do not understand how to use them..." But she has them! Suddenly finding himself outside, Loki huffs. Stupid weak hands! He shouldn't be so easy to toss around like a ragdoll. Lifting off the ground, Loki quickly scans the destroyed parking lot, right hand reaching out... There's a glimmer, and Mjolnir flies to him. His long fingers wrap about the haft, the runes flair to life, and the relic's healing magics flood into him, and soothe the heat of the burns. He turns then, to the skylights. One pane was shattered by Sif's blade. For what the Trickster has in mind, there will need to be a lot more damage done to the mall's roof. A cyclone appears in the sky, and moves to suck out the glass from the roof top. The smell of ozone sinks into the mall, and the temperature is falling... and fast. It's really hard to keep fighting when your face gets burned and solidified into volcanic glass. The fire demon that got hit with the blast falls with a thud, the stone tile beneath it cracking and scorching from the heat. One down, at least... Hammer looks back to Sif quickly, shocked that she's already got four more extinguishers. "Pull the pin, aim and squeeze the handle," he says quickly, tossing the empty extinguisher he had in his hands and reaching for a new one. He pulls the pin and starts toward another demon but stops as the glass is sucked out of the skylights. Oh, hell, this can't end well... Sif nods her head at the instructions. "Understood." The pin on the extinguisher in her hand is pulled but before she can do anything else, the tail of the snake comes around and slams into her. It easily sends her flying through the wall of one of the stores and almost through the wall of the mall itself. Normally, this would be nothing. She would get up and charge right back in. Except... She's not getting up... Two of the four warriors that came in with her rush to her side. "Get her out of here!" The other two? They're still fighting. Above the mall, Loki looks like something out of myth, an irrate God summoning a glacial storm. As he lowers himself into the building, his green eyes gleaming, he spots the fallen Sif, the two of the four Einhenjar that came with her. The room grows colder, and with Mjolnir in hand, Loki pulls a thick rush of powdery snow into the building from the sky above. He touches down lightly on the floor as the snow begins to quickly pool at his ankles. His left hand lifts toward the serpent. Snow swirls and lifts, readying to attack. Hammer is nearly taken out as well when the serpent's tail knocks Sif out of the game. The sight of her unconscious form and her guards rushing to her leaves Justin stunned and unable to move for almost a moment too long. He's never seen anything do /that/ to one of the Asgardians before, and the confidence he had just a moment before is gone. The sudden cold rush of snow snaps the mortal back to the situation, and he raises the extinguisher just as one of the marauders slashes a fist toward him. He fires, but not before he's knocked on his backside by a glancing blow. The creature yeowls and staggers backwards, giving the CEO just enough time to scramble back a few feet and shrug out of his suit jacket, which now has a smoldering patch on the left shoulder. Vengence is best served cold. Loki's eyes are flecks of chilled emerald, gleaming and narrowed at the firey demons. high winds sweep into the area, sending the ice and snow at the creatures of Mulspelheim. Their yowls of pain rend the air as Loki stalks toward them, murder written on his face. /Oh, crap, where's the fire extinguisher?!/ Justin looks left and right quickly, finally finding the red cylinder just a few feet away, on it's side. He rolls into his hands and knees, snags the silver handle of the extinguisher, then scrambles to get to his feet. The scene of Loki driving the snow at the fire beasts is impressive, and there's really little Justin can do to help out. The CO2 extinguisher just doesn't seem to compare, though he does douse a demon that staggers backwards toward him. The fire extinguisher does more than the ice and snow in terms of damage and hurt to the beasts. The winter works just drive them backwards. They seem to sense the cold and are shying away from it. "Vile... missahepen... molten excuses for life," Loki is snarling at the cretures, each word a step slower. The snake is glaring at him with boiling hatred. At this point a hero would grab a new extinguisher and try to get the snake's attention in order to deliver a blast of chemical cold. However, Justin isn't a hero, so he doesn't do any such thing. The creatures are distracted and retreating, so he simply steps back. His ultimate goal is to put Thoki between himself and the hoard, keeping out of the path of the winter storm. The humanoid maraudors fall back with the snake, stumbling as their legs slowly freeze. "Take the Queen to the Healers and PRAY that the King doesn't hear of your failures in protecting her," Loki hisses at the Einhenjar. He doesn't even attempt to sound reasonable. He's far too pissed off, and with the anger not fuelling him as he's used to... well... yeah. Turning back to the snake, and with the winter storm centered upon Mjolnir, Loki hefts the relic and flings it at the snake. Whether it's Loki, Thor or somewhere in between, Justin has never heard that sort of tone or anger from one of the Asgardians. It's flat-out scary, more frightening even than the flaming snake and it's compatriots. Fearing that the same rage might turn on him for trying to run, Hammer pauses. Raising the extinguisher he walks forward and targets another marauder, aiming for the thing's head. They're moving far slower now, and are easier to hit. The blast empties the canister, and he tosses it aside. That's when he spots the hammer arching in a graceful curve toward the serpent, and starts back peddling again. The guards glare at Loki, openly hating and distrusting the Trickster, as they carry Sif away to an open area and summon the bifrost. The Maraudor takes CO2 to the face, screams and falls, parts of him cracking like volcanic glass. Two down, two and 1 giant snake to go. Mjolnir strikes the snake, and survalliance footage of Thor throwing the hammer would make it clear that it should have gone straight through the beast, or at least hurt him more than what it appears to have done. The relic slams into the snake, bruises the flames and leaves behind white ashy scales, then falls to floor as a heavy weight. And that didn't work nearly as well as it should have. Justin looks between Thoki and the snake, very obviously worried about this turn of events. Now that he knows the full story, he can understand what's happening and why the smack-down hasn't been laid out as he expected it would. It's a good time to run... /Run so you can get your ass beat by a god for being a coward when this is all over?/ Granted it's unlikely the Asgardian would /fault/ Justin for high-tailing it. After all, he's just a squishy and easily broken mortal. But with everything that's going on, and Sif getting hurt, he can't be sure on that. One of the other fire extinguishers is about twenty feet from Hammer's left, and he makes a run for it. The snow and debris have made the floor slick and he nearly falls twice in his dash toward it. Snagging it on the fly he pulls the pin, which takes a couple tries with his shaking hands, and looks toward the serpent. "Hey, hey you! Snake! Come over here and fight!" Loki growls, this hiss of a growl, as Mjolnir drops to the ground. His right hand reaches out, summoning the relic again. It settles into his palm just as the winter winds begin to die down. Loki's cold fury redoubles their intensity, keeping that blanket of Jotunheim COLD focused on the creatures of Mulspelheim while Justin does the actual damage. Or tries. Or something. The taunt grabs the snakes attention, and that of the reamining two maraudors. They are faster still than the serpent and so they move to attack Justin while the snake advances again. It's movements are at a snail's pace. The temperatures are positively artic. As if nerves weren't bad enough, the cold air is causing Justin to shake worse. The two man-sized demons advance and quickly become the primary target, and once they're close enough Justin lets loose with two controlled blasts from the extinguisher. He does his best to aim for their heads while dodging and attacks, but he's not a skilled fighter. He's not a fighter at all. One of the strikes hits the extinguisher and Justin nearly loses it, but he at least manages to keep from getting burned this time. He fires at the creatures again as he starts backing away across the slick tile. The extinguisher is already significantly lighter than it was when Hammer first picked it up, it's already gone through 2/3rds of what was in it. A third maraudor falls, and Loki glances between serpent and human. Damn it. Forcing the winter to remain with the relic, and the winds to howl for a moment longer, Loki drops the hammer to let it fuel the storm while he rushes toward Justin as the final fire demon is advancing on him. The tile is slick for Justin, but painfully sticky for the lava beast. As the creature brings its arm up to claw the human down, Loki launches himself at it, tackling into it, and barely managaing to barrel it into the ground. The now familiat stentch of burning leather and flesh drifts up again. "Find a way to kill it," Loki calls out, trying to wrestle with this flaming beast who is much stronger than he is. The swipe from the creature coupled with Thoki's flying attack cause Justin to stumble. He falls hard onto the freezing tile, the extinguisher hitting the tile with a loud clank. With trembling hands the mortal manages to grab the bottom of the cylinder and drag it toward him. As soon as the handle is within reach he fires on the creature, and the god in the process, from his position on the floor. It's not perfect, but at least he's on the same level as the demon, and far closer to it that he'd like to be. The canister empties what CO2 it has left, then sputters and stops. The creature freezes against Loki's body, hands turning solid around the Trickster's throat. It takes the aesir sorcerer effort to break the thing's fingers and shove the creature off of himself. It happens with a grunt, and more obsidian flakes away onto the ground. A cough and a gasp, and Loki's pushing himself back up, burned and smoldering again. He looks at Justin, just about to smile and give his thanks when there's a hiss and a rattle from behind them. The air grows noticibly warmer. The snake has arrived. "We're gonna need another fire extinguisher," Justin says as he looks past Loki and up toward the serpent. He's used three, there are two more somewhere. One of them could be anywhere, the other should be somewhere near where Sif first appeared with them. Hammer pushes himself to his feet with some effort. Between the falls and the cold he's starting to ache, and he's not exactly dressed for arctic combat. Once he's standing, somewhat shakily, he starts the search for more of the red canisters. He can't see any- not even a hint of one right off hand. "Th- Loki... We have a problem..." "If you're about to say that there's a giant fire serpent looming over us, you'd better think of soemthing else that's a problem," Loki retorts, moving to once again put himself between Justin and the smoldering snake. Other than moving slowly, the flames that lapped up its sides being smaller than before, the only sign of damage on it is the one ashy spot on its chest. There are a few tiny spots long its nose that are also cool embers of hurt. Parted from the focus that is Mjolnir, Loki's eyes glow as he attempts to divide his attention between being ready to keep the snake's attention long enough for Justin to move and refuelling the winter storm that's keeping the creature so slowed and chilled. Justin starts backing away again, though this time it isn't to run. Not per say, anyway. He starts visually looking over the drifts of snow that have formed inside the interior of the mall hoping to locate one that could hold one of the sacred red cylinders. That's when it catches his eye- next to the escalator there's a hint of red under a blanket of white. Hammer goes for it, sliding several times before he skids to a halt against the escalator railing. He grabs the extinguisher, frantically looking for the pin. He finds it and pulls it. "I found one!" Loki barely manages to roll clear of the serpent's bite attack, tumbling to his feet and rising from a crouch. "Hurry and use it," cries the Trickster, backing away from the Serpent while pulling bits of the blizzard churning behind him to his hands and throwing what are in essence snowballs at the snake to keep its attention. Head shots seemed to work the quickest on the humanoid creatures, so that's the first thing that Hammer tries. As the huge fire-snake's head swivels to keep an eye on the trickster, Justin raises the extinguisher, possibly the last one they'll be able to find, and edges toward the serpent. As he does so the temperature rises, something he's actually almost thankful for. Once he's as close as he dares, which is a mere ten feet away, he opens up the fire extinguisher to let the creature get face full of CO2 as it strikes downward toward Loki. Here's hoping it works... There's a shriek, a horrible hiss of a shriek, as teh CO2 strikes the creature in the face, the white foam getting into its gaping maw. Recoiling, the serpent shakes his head, slithering backwards several feet. Loki starts toward the relic as the winter storm is slowing to a stop, fists closed as he sprints, hits the snow, bends his knees to slide the rest of the way. He reaches out to collect Mjolnir, but he's just not heavy enough now nor strong enough in the way he is used to to put the downward friction he'd like to stop himself, and so the turnspin to reface his foe is awkward and ends with his back slamming against a column. This time, he keeps a hold of the relic. The snake refocuses on Justin, and rattle-hisses again. That didn't work out real well... Unlike the smaller demons, the snake only seems to get pissed off by the blast. Justin raises the extinguisher again and empties it on the snake. Once that's done, he's out of ideas. Well, there's always his .40 pistol, which he has on him, but seeing as how the thing took a sword to the head and is still around to /be/ pissed off, he guesses that your average self defense rounds are going to be pointless. He starts backing away, the empty, red cylinder still in hand. "Move!" Loki shouts his warning as he lifts Mjolnir, pointing at the snake again. The blizzard resumes, winds whipping about and pelting the fire serpent with ice and snow and cold. It hisses again and turns its head to glare at Loki, starting to turn away from the fragile human. Loki steps forward from the pilar, hammer still raised and pointing at the serpent. Justin doesn't have to be told twice. He turns and takes off for the escalator, skidding around the support wall where he was when this all started. He looks around frantically for something, anything that might help. He sees the empty fire extinguisher case, and it dawns on him. The fire sprinklers! If he can get those to kick on, maybe Loki can freeze the water. Naturally, there's a problem with this. How the hell is he going to trip the sprinklers? Looking up, Hammer spots one of the sprinklers on the angular wall that runs under the escalator. It's out of reach for him, but if they could lure the snake under it, it may trip. "Loki! Bring it over here!" The snake makes those slow sensuous undulating movements towards Loki as he finds the constant blizzard to face is merely slowing the creature, not truly damaging it. His green eyes flick toward Justin as the mortal calls out, seeing where Justin wants the creature. No idea WHY, but if the mortal has an idea... Maybe he has more of those red things over there that shoot the white foam. Sprinting again, Loki pushes away from the wall, seeming ot charge the snake before dropping to his hip to baseball slide past and... the snake flicks at him with his tail and sends him skimming like a hockey puck at a 90degree angel from where he wanted to go. Loki collides with another pilar, cracking the plaster with a sick thud. Why can plans never go as you envision them? Hammer watches as the Asgardian is batted off course with a flick of the serpent's tail. That pretty much leaves him to act as bait. Not the way he had seen this play out, but... "Hey snake!" he yells again, throwing the empty fire extinguisher toward the beast. "Come over here! C'mon!" He waves his hands and takes a couple steps back, hoping to get the beast out of the large couryard and under the escalator, where it will get close enough to the sprinklers to trip them. Hopefully... The snake began after the prone Loki as the fire extinguisher clatters off his side harmlessly. The snake turns his head, charcoal eyes glaring at Justin. Aggro: Justin. What was plan B? The snake begins undulating toward the human as Loki pushes himself to his feet, hissing at the contact burn. "That's right, come on over here!" Justin keeps yelling, and keeps backing up. The further back he goes, the less snow and ice as accumulated. This better work, otherwise the beast could find itself in a much better position than it was previously. And with a CEO as a tasty snack. The man looks upward as he continues to walk back. Just another couple of feet.... The little glass vial of red liquid in the sprinkler head begins to bubble and expand as the head from the creature reaches it. Finally the fragile glass pops, and the valve lets loose. Gallons of stagnant, smelly, oily water pour out of the sprinkler and rains down on the half frozen tile below. The serpent ignores the oily water, eyes fixed on Justin. His mouth opens just as Loki, now on his feet spins a blast of blizzard toward him, praying it doesn't splatter onto the mortal. He saw the liquid, but doesn't understand and so... "What was that going to accomplish, foolish human?" Loki snaps, nerves frayed at how LONG this battle was taking, and the ache of the burn injuries he had sustained. /Oh, shit, that's not working!/ Justin thinks as he starts backing up faster. The blast of cold from Loki spurs him to turn and run fully, Hammer taking off to his left. "Freeze it! Freeze the water!" He hollers as he tries to circle around to end up back by the Asgardian. The area around the sprinkler and the serpent are quickly soaked. If Loki can freeze the water, it could practically encase the beast. The snake, once more growing sluggish as the cold hits him, moves to follow Justin's retreat while Loki does as told. His eyes glow like glaciers, the green almost completely washed out by a snow white gleam, and the air turns painfully cold. Ice forms on teh surfaces of where snow has melted to water. The oily liquid pouring down on the serpent from the fire suppression system is slow to freeze, at first, but once it get frosted it freezes in this quick growing pattern, first covering the floor before starting to creep along the creature's back. It moves slower and slower and slower until at last, by the time Justin is at Loki's side, the serpent is doing his best Han Solo in Carbonite impression. Justin skids to a halt next to Thorki, almost falling again, his sides heaving. "Did... Did that k-kill it?" he asks between deep breaths as he stares at the frozen serpent demon. Good night, this was worse than the frickin' frost giants! At least now Hammer has seen both the frost giants AND the fire demons in action. Valuable knowledge, it just would have been a lot more pleasant to have seen this in film form, instead of first hand. "T-That's it... I'm building fire extinguishers now... Seriously..." Loki sneers at the beast and flings Mjolnir with more force than he had before. A gutteral cry is ripped from his throat that the motion and the momentum flings him forward and down to his knees. The hammer impacts the frozen statue and like Wesley Snipes in Demolition Man, the snake shatters. "Don't know. But it if it didn't, it's dead now," hisses the Trickster, resummoning Mjolnir to his hand as he once more pushses himself to his feet. "Is that what those red things are called? They were, indeed, most effective." Justin watches in stunned silence as the hammer shatters the snake to pieces. He lets out a long sigh, then chuckles lightly. "Yeah, Fire extinguishers. They're used to put out fires," he explains. "And apparently they're reasonably effective on fire demons." The cold is starting to catch up with him, he got splashed by the nasty water out of the sprinkler system plus he lost his suit coat. "S-so, do we need to, y'know, call anyone? Like SHIELD or...." That's when he remembers who he's talking to, and shuts up. "No doubt SHIELD has been alerted and clean up is on the way. For now, you are cold. You should go outside, where it is warm," says Loki flatly, still angry about something. "And you can tell me more about these fire extinguishers. Are they commonly used by those who fight fires?" Hammer is not at all comforted by Thoki's tone. Afraid the anger may spill out onto him, he doesn't argue. He starts walking, taking only a short detour to stoop down and pick up his suit coat. There's a large burn in the shoulder that draws a frown, but he throws it on anyway. Hopefully, at least, he looks badass. Or something. He talks while he heads toward the exit of the mall, which has been thoroughly smashed. "Yeah, yeah they are," he says, "As well as civilians, on occasion." As they reach the exit it's plain to see the line of emergency vehicles, and of course the news media, waiting at the building's exterior. Loki sees the news vehicles and sighs softly. "My brother will not be pleased if I am seen to be involved in this," Loki mutters half to himself, half to Justin. "I take my leave," he states, preparing to fly away. Justin looks over toward Thoki. "Probably wouldn't do my reputation much good either," he says, but he doesn't elaborate. He stops just short of the doors- it's already a LOT warmer than it was, and peers out. For once, he actually doesn't want to mess with the news media, he'd rather just go home. Loki glances at Justin, notes the fatigued look he's given, then looks back outside. "The skylight is broken. I was thinking of departing through there..." he says, voice trailing off in silent offer of a lift. Hammer nods, stepping back from the door. "Good idea," He replies, then shakes his head. "No, I shouldn't. I can't be seen with you, remember? I'm supposed to hate your guts and blame you for this. And if anyone asks, I'm going to have to." He doesn't look at all happy about it, there's no joy in having to potentially blame someone who wasn't at all to blame. "Then say I abducted you. I'll leave you on a roof top with shade and a flat open area where you can call your people to collect you," Loki states, falling in step with Justin, falling into the role of scapegoat easily enough. And bearing it well. Mostly. His eyes are still angry. Hammer shakes his head again. "No, I can dodge the media well enough. They'll probably want to cart me into the emergency room anyway. Just go, before the cops get a wild hair to come in here." He starts walking toward the ruined door, pausing after a few steps. He looks like he's going to say something, then just keeps walking. As predicted, almost as soon as he steps outside two firefighters intercept him and move him quickly away from the building and toward a waiting ambulance. Category:Log